May 6, 2026

Title: BAR CRAWL

Constructor: Emily Biegas

Editor: Amie Walker

Theme synopsis:

• BARBECUE SAUCE (20A: Vinegar-based cookout condiment)
• DREW BARRYMORE (38A: "the Wedding Singer" star who has had a daytime talk show since 2020)
• WUNDERBAR (62A: "Marvelous," in German)

BAR CRAWL: The word BAR is found in each theme answer, and visually it is CRAWLing across the grid from left to right: BARBECUE SAUCE, DREW BARRYMORE, and WUNDERBAR.

What I learned from today's puzzle:

• ALO (34A: Brand of yoga wear that sounds like a greeting) ALO Yoga was founded in Los Angeles, California in 2007 by Danny Harris and Marco DeGeorge. ALO is an acronym for "air, land, and ocean." This is a new brand to me, and I was grateful for the "sounds like a greeting" hint.
• SAM (44A: "Send Help" director Raimi) Send Help, directed by SAM Raimi, is a survival horror movie released earlier this year. Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien star as an employee and boss who are stranded on a desert island after a plane crash.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• OTTO (14A: "A Man Called ___" (2022 American remake of "A Man Called Ove")) A Man Called OTTO is a remake of a 2015 Swedish movie titled A Man Called Ove. Tom Hanks portrays the film's title character, a grumpy older man who reluctantly gets involved with the lives of his neighbors. 
• LENTO (15A: Slowly, in sheet music) A week ago we saw ADAGIO in the puzzle clued as [Slow score tempo]. LENTO is generally just slightly slower than Adagio.
• RAGE (16A: Extreme anger) and BAIT (16-Across-___ (content designed to provoke)) I got RAGE right away, but it took me a little longer to figure out BAIT. My brain was having a tough time correctly parsing "16-Across-___" even though I knew what it meant. I did get there eventually. Was this clue RAGE-BAIT? (ha!)
• DREW BARRYMORE (38A: "The Wedding Singer" star who has had a daytime talk show since 2020) The Wedding Singer is a 1998 rom-com starring DREW BARRYMORE and Adam Sandler. As the clue informs us, DREW BARRYMORE also has a talk show. The DREW BARRYMORE Show premiered in the fall of 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the first season, the audience was a virtual crowd that was projected on a large screen. Fun fact: One of the guests on the debut episode of The DREW BARRYMORE Show was DREW BARRYMORE's co-star from The Wedding Singer, Adam Sandler.
• NOV (43A: Cyber Monday month, often (Abbr.)) Cyber Monday is a marketing term used to encourage online shopping. Cyber Monday is the Monday after the U.S. holiday Thanksgiving. This often falls in November (NOV.), though depending on the date of Thanksgiving, Cyber Monday is sometimes in December. (Last year it was Dec. 1; this year it will be NOV. 30.) 
• SOCCER (50A: It's known as football in many countries) This clue made me smile, thinking of all the times I've written the clarification "(known as SOCCER in the U.S.)" or "(known as football in many countries)." 
• DAVID (61A: Broadcaster and natural historian Attenborough) DAVID Attenborough is a broadcaster, biologist, and writer. He has been the narrator for multiple BBC nature shows including Planet Earth and Blue Planet. DAVID Attenborough's appearance in the puzzle feels timely, as Friday (May 8) is his 100th birthday.
• WUNDERBAR (62A: "Marvelous," in German) WUNDERBAR is such an excellent – or should I say "marvelous" – word!
• ADELE (64A: Pop singer with 12 Brit Awards) The Brit Awards are the highest profile music awards in the U.K. ADELE's 12 wins are the second-most won by any British artist. (Robbie Williams has won 13 Brit Awards.) In addition to receiving Brit Awards, ADELE has performed at the awards ceremony five times, the most of any female performer. Here's a link to "Hello" by ADELE, which won British Song of the Year in 2016.
• OBOE (65A: Heckelphone relative) A hecklephone is an instrument named for its inventor Wilhelm Heckle. Both the OBOE and the hecklephone are double-reeded instruments, but the hecklephone has a larger bore and is pitched about an octave lower than the OBOE. If you haven't heard of the hecklephone, don't feel bad. Although the instrument was introduced in the early 1900s, only about 150 hecklephones have been produced. It's not nearly as well known as its cousin the OBOE.
• PLACE (5D: Person, ___ or Thing (20 Questions variant)) The game show Person, PLACE or Thing originally aired from 2023 to 2025. As in the classic game 20 Questions, players ask yes-or-no questions to get information to identify a – you guessed it – person, PLACE, or thing.
• DOSA (9D: South Indian food often served with sambar) A DOSA is a thin pancake in South Indian cuisine made from a fermented batter of lentils and rice. Sambar is a lentil-based vegetable curry.
• BTS (41D: _ehind _he _cenes ("Here's what happened off-camera" hashtag)) In this type of fill in the blank clue, each blank represents one letter. In this case, the letters are BTS, which means "behind the scenes." BTS is an abbreviation used in social media to identify posts that highlight the process of creating a final product. We usually see BTS clued in reference to the K-pop boy band, so this was an interesting change today.
• GEODES (46D: Crystal-filled rocks) GEODES are hollow rocks in which crystals are secluded. The crystals are only visible when the rock is broken open. GEODES are found in parts of the midwestern United States (including Iowa), Brazil, Namibia, Mexico, and an area of Somerset, England.
• CHILE (51D: Country home to the Atacama Desert) The Atacama Desert is located along the Pacific coastline of CHILE, west of the Andes Mountains. Atacama is the largest fog desert in the world and is known as the driest place in the world. In a fog desert, the majority of moisture needed by plants and animals is provided by fog drip. Average rainfall in the Atacama is about 15mm per year (that's just 0.6 inches). The soil of the Atacama has been compared to that on Mars, and NASA has used the desert to conduct tests on instruments used for Mars missions.

Any time's a good time for a BAR CRAWL ... if it's in the crossword (otherwise, one might need to wait until later in the evening). The title clued me in nicely about what to expect, and I enjoyed watching the word BAR move from left to right as I uncovered the theme answers. Thank you, Emily, for this excellent puzzle.

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